I am in Poland in a little town where my mum grew up called Opole Lubelskie.
In town in Opole, there is a bakery, or piekarnia, that you can smell from all the way down the street and around the corner. It smells delicious. Like fresh pastries and yummy, warm bread.
When I lived in Poland, pastries and sweet rolls, along with pate and beer, were staples in my diet. These pastries are some of my favourites.
This is called a gniastko, which means nest. I remember this pastry from when I was a little girl because its my mum’s favourite and we used to eat it all the time when we were in Poland. It is like a choux pastry almost, fried like a doughnut and covered in a sugar glaze.
This pastry is similar to the gniastko, except it is made of doughnut dough and is twisted up. It is called a paczkowy obwarzanek and is absolutely delicious. Soft and puffy on the inside, crispy on the outside and beautifully dusted with icing sugar.
This is another favourite and classic, called a jagodzianka, or blueberry bun. It is a sweet, brioche-like yeast pastry and is filled with blueberries. Yum.
This bun is a new favourite, one I only tried for the first time on this trip. It’s called a buraczak, or beetroot bun. Strange, right? Well there are apparently huge beetroots that are white and are used to make sugar. So this bun is made from that beetroot sugar and results in a soft, sweet roll. It is delicious just eaten plain with butter but this morning my uncle sliced up the leftover buraczak, tossed it in milk and fried it in butter until the outside was crispy. Heaven. I’m addicted.
This is more of a roll than a pastry, and is called a rogalik, which basically means crescent. It is sweet and light and topped with crumble. It is best plain with butter and a glass of milk in the morning for breakfast.
I love Polish pastries. Excuse me while I go and eat some more!